The Cycle of Life

A much-belated, and never posted due to some kind of distraction while writing, blog from Freiburg last summer:

I've had a request for more cheesy titles (you know who you are). Not entirely sure this one makes that much sense, but it's late at night, and I have lots of feelings to share, all revolving around my bicycle, so here goes.

Cycling in Freiburg is unbelievable. And I finally understand the biking craze that's hit some of my friends in the Have/all over. But cycling here is entirely different from at Yale. First of all, if you want to travel anywhere, a bike is crucial. My friends and I live in the Industriegebiet, the industrial area, and it's a good 15 - 20 minute bike ride outside the city center (10- 15 minutes if, hypothetically, you overslept, went to lab later than you intended to, and then found yourself frantically cycling to catch a train as soon as you finished collecting flies). Walking is impractical and the tram is slow and gets expensive (2,10 euros one-way). The last tram runs at 00:30, so if you want to stay out late, it means walking or biking back home, and walking 40 minutes at 2 a.m. isn't all that appealing.

Also, the drivers here, and the entire city, are extremely respectful of bikers. Nearly every road has a lane for bikers, and drivers are in constant communication with bikers so that, from what I've seen, they're often willing to yield or hang back on a tight street. I feel entirely comfortable biking in Freiburg in a way I never have on streets in the U.S.

And it's not just the teenagers who want to stay out and party all night and then bike home who own cycles -- I've seen people from ages 5 - 65 biking through the city. My personal favorite, though, is the ~40-year-old type who bikes home from work in his full suit and rides with a perfectly straight back and no hands. Jealous.

For me, though, a major part of the excitement of biking here is that it's not just a sweaty athletic sport done from time to time in exercise shorts and sneakers. Biking has simply become a part of daily life, a constant athleticism that is shared by everyone in this city (or so it feels).

But, of course, for all my raving about biking, it's not entirely foolproof. And so, juuust in case anything happens, I bought a helmet yesterday that makes all my friends proud to ride alongside me (also known as, Abi threatened to never again ride alongside me). Really, only photos can do it justice, so until my camera returns, you'll have to sit in suspense.

All The Single Ladies

Confession: when I sat down a few mornings ago to begin sorting out virgin female flies, I realized that Beyonce's "Single Ladies" had begun to play in my head. Embarrassing.

But currently, the song is appropriate for my work in the lab. I feel a little bit like the Drosophila village matchmaker, sorting out the single ladies & single men (aka flies) from my collection, & then "making matches" (sticking them in a vial together) to create happy unions (get the genetic crosses that I want -- the flies really don't get so much say in their own happiness, unforunately).

I'm currently studying genes that have been linked with obesity, taking likely candidates from a genome-wide screen and then examining them further. If all goes well, I should pick up another project in a few weeks, but we'll have to see how this one takes off, first.

Outside of lab, things are wonderful, as well. This past weekend, I traveled to Strasbourg on Saturday and then Lake Konstantz on Sunday. Strasbourg was beautiful, as was Konstantz, but pictures will have to follow -- sadly, my camera battery has died and it looks like I left the charger at home.

Highlight of Lake Konstanz was a close tie between Germany's winning the Germany v. England game and then getting to watch the entire city explode with pride and excitement, and going paddleboating on the lake. Only problem with the boating -- I decided to jump in halfway through -- which was incredibly refreshing, but also prompted the German woman in charge of the paddleboats to zoom alongside us on a motorboat and yell at me -- apparently jumping out of the paddleboats is not condoned. Who knew? (But really. They never told us! And it seemed like a great place for a swim.)

Until I can charge my camera, I'll try to keep these posts short so as not to bore you (the few faithful readers I have -- again, Mom, Dad, & possibly Nikola) with too many words & not enough pictures. So for now, tschuss!

Freiburg(er)!

To continue the theme of cheesy titles (necessary), guess what my first meal in Freiburg was? That's right. A burger. Advertised as "American" style, in a diner "just like those in New York." Glad I'm exploring a new culture.

I originally intended to go into the city for dinner (I'm living in the industrial area, a little bit outside city center), but after 2 students told me that in addition to my fifteen-minute walk to the diner, I had another thirty minutes to go before I reached the city, I decided to call it quits for the day, since it was beginning to get late.

Anyway, there's not much to say right now, except that I've arrived. But for all my faithful readers (that means you -- Mom, Dad, and Nikola), I'll try to keep up the blog this summer, and this first post is my attempt to make it a habit.

Looking forward to what will, hopefully, be something like SRP Part 2 : )

As Nikola would say, speak soon!